


A Very Important Question

by thesudokukid



Series: Kintsugi [3]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Gen, Mind Control/Hypnosis, Non-Binary Runner Five, Other, Persona 5 Spoilers, Season 4 Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, Vomiting, Zombies Make, season three spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesudokukid/pseuds/thesudokukid
Summary: Another "Zombies, Make!" fic. The prompt was,If only you could tell him the planBut remember, you don’t tell anyone about me Five.You can’t.A story in which a terrible secret is revealed,  gummy worms are shared, and a very important question is posed. Can you identify which question it is?
Relationships: Runner Five/Sam Yao
Series: Kintsugi [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655731
Kudos: 1





	A Very Important Question

“So what’s the plan Quint?”

_ If only you could tell him the plan _

_ But remember, you don’t tell anyone about me. _

_ You can’t. _

Your mouth feels glued shut. You don’t think it’ll ever stop. But you try to fight that feeling for his sake.

“Actually I was thinking it might be best to pull out for now and head to a safe room,” you say.

Sam tilts his head when he looks at you.

“I have something...important to tell all of you,” you say.

Sam’s head stops tilting and he starts guiding you to the nearest safe room.

Nadia turns to glare at him, “You’re not even going to question them?! We have to get past that obstacle or we’re never going to take the Minister down!”

Sam looks at you, and clicks the connection between you and Nadia shut with a snap of his fingers.

“He’s already got an idea what this is about,” you say. “Since we are roommates and all.”

Nadia scoffs but at least she stops complaining about Sam’s trust in you.

When you get to the safe room, Sam pulls out a few snacks. He looks at you every once in a while as he does it and you’re pretty sure what he’s expecting.

Akechi stands behind him, arms crossed, and eyebrows furrowed. His sword isn’t sheathed yet..

“What have you still got your weapon out for,” Jody asks. “This is a safe room remember?”

She laughs and so does just about everybody else.

Sam only smiles queasily at it and Akechi only seems to get angrier.

“I assume you know why we’ve all been called here,” he says.

“I’m pretty sure I know,” Jody says. “The way I see it, Quint’s probably the least dangerous person here.”

Akechi’s costume changes from a princely white to a black and blue one that wouldn’t look entirely out of place in a prison movie. Aside from all the belts, that is.

“Whenever you’re ready, Five,” Sam says. He looks at you, nods, and comes to sit down on your right side. Jody who’s on your left, gives you a once over and then pats you on the back.

“I feel sooner might be better than later,” Morgana says, sitting across from you. “That’s always the case with potentially dangerous information.”

Akechi, standing in white regalia again, positions himself a fair distance behind Jody. His sword’s been sheathed but his hand is still on the hilt. Probably in case you pose a threat to any other member of your group.

You take a deep breath, clear your throat, and try to tell everyone what’s going on.

They have a right to know.

\---

You let your brain float on auto pilot as you try to explain to everyone that the Moonchild that was in your head has come back. That you (and Sam and Janine) are searching for ways to fix the problem.

“Or at least ways for me to cope with it,” you say. “It seems to get worse whenever I’m stressed. Which given what’s happened recently is kind of a lot these days.”

That’s the most you can get out before you get a migraine that almost makes you start screaming. You’re pretty sure this was Moonchild’s doing.

Morgana takes your hand and uses a go-hom to get everyone back to the entrance.

You’re on the verge of sobbing. Also vomiting.

Your grasp on yourself is tenuous at best.

You’re on your knees now and can’t help but remember the last time Moonchild had this much control over you. Don’t vomit, don’t vomit, don’t vomit.

You’re pretty sure the only reason she hasn’t gotten complete control yet is because you know that when you remember something, you’re actually remembering the last time that it was remembered. If it weren’t for that…

You shiver at the reminder of holding an axe and praying you’d only hit Sam with the blunt side.

Sam’s walking towards you now and you try to look anywhere that isn’t at him. Your fingers start clawing at the metal ship under you as though it’ll make a difference.

And then, finally, everyone understands.

You tap the iron under your hands in morse code. SOS. SOS. SOS. Over and over again. It’s stupid and silly but it might also be the only thing that’s keeping you from being Moonchild’s puppet. You will  _ never _ be her puppet to that extent again. So you carry on tapping it out. You don’t stop. You can’t stop.

Morgana steps forward and you stop because he’s not in any danger from you. Not even when Sam is. You’ll be damned if she’ll make you hurt a cat.

“Do you remember what the S in SOS means,” Morgana asks.

Sam straightens up a bit in recognition and says, “The whole thing means save our ship doesn’t it? Or is it souls?”

You laugh, honest and true and manage to stand up. “It’s meaningless. It’s just the shortest signal you can send in an emergency. Or something like that.”

Sam, utterly brilliant (though he never believes it), nods. “That sounds about right, thanks Five.”

You smile at him because you can’t help but do that when you hear his voice. Because you love him, because he’s Sam.

He steps forward with a bag of candy in his hand.

“Gummy worm?”

You close your eyes and take one. He backs away just a bit after you do. Closer than everyone aside from Morgana but not within arm’s reach.

Jody goes to join the two of them where they’re standing and gets a bit closer to you. At least on par with Sam if not Morgana.

The three people standing in front of you are the three most important people as far as this operation is concerned. You can’t let anyone, not even “Moonchild”, put their safety at risk. And just like that your Persona has another awakening. And it finally, finally learns a skill that allows it to  _ evade its fucking weakness. And that skill also allows you to resist it.  _

“So, this Persona has a skill that’s a weird combo of evade and resist Psy now. It’s a damn shame this is how it happened though.”

“We decided some time ago that Psy might have a connection to having or desiring your control over yourself and others. It’s possible that the two are related,” Akechi says.

Nadia whose Persona  _ uses _ Psy shifts uncomfortably.

“We  _ also _ decided it was only a theory,” she says.

“It’s rather unfortunate we didn’t keep that theory in mind considering how susceptible they ended up being to hypnotism.”

You try not to flinch but it happens anyway. Sam hugs you and you try not to cry. The snacks from the safe room are on the ground so you all decide to sit down and eat them so they won’t go to waste. You join everyone else once you’ve calmed down. After all, you have work you need to complete.

But first…

> You stuff the gummy worm into your gaping maw with a smile.

\---

Akechi pulls you aside when you get back to the real world. Sam takes your headset back to its charging dock so you can talk privately.

“I’d like to apologize for my earlier behavior,” Akechi says after Sam and the others leave.

“Hm? Don’t be. You were only trying to make sure no one would get hurt. And I’m glad. I may have been slightly hurt by it but I’m glad all the same considering what happened last year.”

Akechi flinches at your oblique reference to being mind-controlled by Moonchild. Sam had asked him to chase you down and inject you with the Comansys serum. He also had to hitch a ride with Spens and Simon back to Abel. You nearly ended up killing Simon after he provoked you and wouldn’t leave Janine’s farmhouse for weeks as a result.

“Be that as it may, I still feel that an apology is in order,” Akechi says. “So, once again, I apologize for my lack of faith in you and hope that this hasn’t harmed our working relationship in any way.”

You nod, “I accept your apology. I’ll have to see if I can’t figure out a backup plan just in case Moonchild ends up winning this  _ war _ for my brain.”

“I don’t believe you’ll allow her to,” Akechi says. “Not if it means putting the people you love most at risk.”

You’re not surprised to hear that Akechi’s clocked onto your Persona’s awakening. He always has been clever, after all.

You smile at him but you’re not really sure that it’s a smile you mean. You’d like it to be. Of course you would. But you’re not sure you believe what he’s telling you.

“I want you to be right. I do. But after I attacked Sam with that axe, or tried to, I don’t know if I can anymore. Nothing about me has felt right since then. I thought I’d made peace with myself about it by now, apparently I haven’t. Looks like I’m too worried about turning into my bother to be able to manage.”

“Your brother,” Akechi asks.

“The dick that provoked me after you injected me, “you say “The same one that died on the ice cream tower so I wouldn’t have to.”

“And you hate him for it don’t you,” Akechi says. “You hate him for taking away your ability to die feeling like yourself.”

You’re quiet for a very long time before you finally respond in the affirmative.

“Yeah. I’ve lived my whole life not knowing who I am or what I’m for. I at least wanted to die knowing that I stood for something. Even if the rest of my life didn’t. And now I’m scared I’ll die by suicide.”

You start to cry again without really meaning to. You start wiping them away once you see that Akechi’s clear and utter discomfort at them.

“My mother nearly died that way,” Akechi says.

You flinch. How the fuck could you possibly forget that?

“I’m not angry at you for being in pain,” Akechi says. “Not truly. I’m angry because the lack of justice in this world disgusts me. That ‘woman’ is allowed to live on in the most vile way possible while someone like you wakes up every morning wondering if they’ll be hanging by a noose that night. It is completely and utterly unfair.”

You can’t help but laugh at that, “Sounds like Sam’s finally starting to get you. He has this way of looking at the world that makes things seem clean and bright and easy whenever you’re with him. That’s probably my favorite thing about him to be honest. Something about being around him, you just sort of  _ feel _ like the world should be fair you know. Not like Saturday morning cartoon fair, but like, Pixar movie fair. Sure there are bad things and bad people too. But there are more good people than bad. And the world can be fair if we all work together at it.”

It’s silly and idealistic but that’s exactly why you love it. You haven’t been able to feel that way since you were a little kid.

“You speak quite highly of him and with a preternaturally high level of fondness,” Akechi says. “Would it be fair to assume that one of you is currently on the search for a ring?”

You smile and nod, “I think both of us probably are.” Your Persona loses its weakness to Psy entirely as soon as you say that. And not due to a skill either.

You stop leaning on the wall of the rec room and start smiling. It’s real and it’s honest and it’s yours. You can’t seem to stop.

“Thank you Akechi,” you say. “For helping me find myself again.”

He nods at you. You nod at him. And then you go to ask Janine for help with a very important question.

**Author's Note:**

> The Akechi here tends more towards "pleasant boy" as his base state and less towards "utterly feral" because his mother's still alive. "Utterly feral" is still there though and will probably be a bit fun later.  
> The idea that Psy skills (might) have a connection to "controlling yourself or others" comes from nenilein.tumblr.com.


End file.
